Making Sense of Number Sense: A Mathematics Workshop for Parents

Garland Linkenhoger, our extraordinary math consultant, led two sessions with parents to Share the Well on the way in which we teach math with children in Pre-K-2 and in grades 3-6. She provided a window into the types of learning experiences that happen daily to build students’ number sense and problem solving strategies relating to multiplication and division.

“As children learn to recognize, be intrigued by, and explore patterns, as they begin to overlay and interpret experiences, contexts, and phenomena with mathematical questions, tools (tables and charts), and models…they are constructing an understanding of what it really means to be a mathematician–to organize and interpret their world through a mathematical lens. This is the essence of mathematics.” Young Mathematicians at Work: Constructing Number sense, Addition, and Subtraction by Fosnot and Dolk, 2001

“By constructing their own strategies and defending them, children are immersed in an investigation that involves mathematizing. Children are exploring ideas–fair sharing, equivalence, and common denominators; the connection between fractions, division, multiplication; common fractions–in relation to their own level of cognitive development. As children learn to recognize, be intrigued by, and explore patterns, and as they begin to overlay and interpret experiences, contexts, and phenomena with mathematical questions, tools, and models, they are constructing what it really means to be a mathematician. They are learning to organize and interpret their world through a mathematical lens. This is the essence of mathematics.” Young Mathematicians at Work: Constructing Fractions, Decimals, and Percents by Fosnot and Dolk, 2001

We look forward to Garland returning in February and hosting another Parent University in Math!

Hungry for more? Here are some additional resources for further reading:

YouCubed- Relevant articles for parents and an invitation for a free online course through Stanford University that many MVPS teachers have taken and highly recommend.